WHEN THEIR LATEST ALBUM WAS RELEASED, SIX MONTHS AGO, IT SIGNALLED NOT JUST THE FIRST NEW ALBUM FROM DODGY IN TEN YEARS BUT THE FIRST FROM THE BAND’S ORIGINAL MEMBERS SINCE THE PLATINUM SELLING FREE PEACE SWEET IN 1996.

In that year they scored three big singles, including the enormous GOOD ENOUGH. Their infectious blend of feel-good pop and sunshine-stoner aesthetics made Dodgy ubiquitous fixtures on the festival and cool-TV circuit. Seemingly not a Glastonbury highlights programme or a TFI Friday drifted by without them grinning away as the crowd bounced around having fun, soundtracked by a band having just as much, if not more. Frontman Nigel Clark left the band in 1998, but the original line-up reconvened in 2008 for deeply personal reasons, and went on to record the pastoral STAND UPRIGHT IN A COOL PLACE.

During the band’s recent tour to promote the album, and over a plastic glass or two of moonshine, affable drummer Mathew Priest spoke to The Mouth Magazine about the reasons behind reforming Dodgy; their new, mature and dignified middle-aged direction; and about what Neil Young called “time in the sun”.